• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Recent Additions
  • The Gallery
    • About
    • Browse by Topic
    • eBay
    • Sorry, It’s Sold
  • Guarantee & Policies
    • Guarantee
    • Shipping & Payment
    • Amazon.com Shipping Information
    • eBay Buyer Protection
  • Contact & Social Media
    • E-mail & Phone
    • eBay
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

  • Gallery Blog
  • Golden Gallery
  • Fine & Decorative
  • Illustration & Advertising
  • Paperback & Pulp
  • Pin-Up & Glamour
Gallery Blog

Pre-Code Talk

Fay Ray 1933 King Kong
Fay Ray 1933 King Kong

With the advent of sound in the early 1920s and its adoption by feature length films in 1927, films got dirtier. During the silent era the lack of dialogue constrained plots, and with sound narratives grew more complicated and came to involve adult themes and politics, incorporating dirty speech into what had previously been only dirty images. Beginning in 1929 with established sound pictures, movies began to explore the limits of on-screen portrayals, from single mothers to sex. While censorship did exist pre-talkies, codes varied from state to state and were not highly enforced given film’s reliance on visual innuendoes.

Marjorie Brandon 1934 Hips Hips Hooray
Marjorie Brandon 1934 Hips Hips Hooray

The public became upset by the new movies’ ‘smutty’ dialogue and pushed policy makers into censorship measures and the creation of a national code. This introduced a period of brinksmanship into the film industry, with studios attempting to push boundaries as far as possible before the inevitable crackdown on permissiveness. The last pre-code films were screen in July 1934, filmed in April of that year. By October, the movies playing in theaters nor longer resembled anything that had previously emerged from the studios, and the apologist period began.

Lupe Velez 1932 Kongo
Lupe Velez 1932 Kongo

We recently discovered a cache of pre-code photographs, from the depth of studio archives. All feature women, representing the popularity and star quality of females during the pre-code era. Before censorship pushed them into the roles of airheads and evil temptresses women were the stars of the box office and movie industry, only relegated to the secondary role they face through today with the advent of the code. While post-code films place value judgments onto how well a role conforms to the “Good Woman” image, 1930s actresses like Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow, and Norma Shearer opened up these stereotypes and played the roles that audiences today identify as “modern women.” These characters played Good, but pushed the boundary of what Good was or meant.

Actresses such as Ethlyne Clair, Leila Hyams, Mary Doran, and Lupe Vélez showed off the broad personalities of their characters through seductive, pensive, and fun photographs. These portraits encapsulate the variety of roles open to and opened by these actresses, not just sexually liberated flappers, but also characterizations of pleasure and intelligence.

Pre-Code Talk

Filed Under: Gallery Blog

Added to Gallery: November 8, 2013

 

Contact Grapefruit Moon Gallery



    Primary Sidebar

    Join our mailing list

    Grapefruit Moon Gallery Around the Web

    Facebook
    Instagram
    Pinterest
    Twitter

    Recent Additions

    Nude at Teatime

    Jewel Flowers (With My Fondest)

    Two on a Match

    Footer

    About Grapefruit Moon Gallery

    Grapefruit Moon Gallery, based in Minneapolis MN, specializes in vintage pin up and original illustration art.  We are the proud home of the Bunny Yeager archives.

    Since 2003, Grapefruit Moon Gallery has been a leading dealer of exclusive original paintings by Gil Elvgren, Alberto Vargas, Earl Moran, Rolf Armstrong and Henry Clive, as well as vintage photographs, prints, and period decorative arts in ceramic and metal.

    All artworks featured are original, accurately represented, and guaranteed to be the work of the named artist.

    Interested buyers may view pieces by appointment and we are happy to answer any questions you may have. [Contact Us]

    Grapefruit Moon Gallery on eBay

     

    Grapefruit Moon Gallery on Instagram

    View on Instagram

    Copyright © 2023